Take A Cup of Kindness Yet

"For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne."

-Auld Lang Syne

This is the last post of the year, bby. :) Then we go onto a new decade! 2010! We've really changed in these past 10 years, haven't we? iPods, cellphones, digital cameras, cellphones with digital cameras. Maybe next are robots and hover crafts? :) I probably wouldn't buy one after seeing the movie "I Am" with Will Smith. It was called I Am, wasn't it? Anyways, robots are scary.

But I digress...I'd like to recap my writing this past year, which I think has very much improved since 2008. 2008 was a dark year for my writing *shivers*.

What I Accomplished Writing-Wise on 2009

• I wrote my second completed novel in January (approx. 76K)
• I wrote my third completed novel in November (NaNoWriMo) at approx. 50K
• I wrote approx. 50 poems
• 1 Short Story :P
• I joined a creative writing club
• I won Nanowrimo
• I kept two writing journals
• I began reading books with "literary merit" (Hunchback of Notre Dame, To Kill A Mockingbird, Fahrenheit 451, O. Henry, Odysseus, Antigone)
• I entered ABNA. I didn't win, but it was a heck of a leap.
• I gained knowledge on queries, literary agents, publishing, etc.
• My writing has gotten much, much better, if I do say so myself.
• I was awarded "oustanding achievement in language arts"
• I was recognized for outstanding achievement in the 2009 Writers Showcase

So, I believe I've covered everything. Isn't it good? Norweigan wood? Just kidding, but really, it's quite a list. I'm very proud of myself. But why do they always say "oustanding achievement"? The term is getting a bit cliched, don't you think? ;)The only thing I need to work on now is...*shudders* essays. That might be my New Year's resolution...it might not. I don't know what my New Year's resolution is. I'll probably know in February. I know that reading books with "literary merit" isn't really writing, and I might have been forced to do it by my English teacher, but really I think it's good for me to read these kinds of books with writing so strong, they've lasted through the decades. What have you accomplished, writing-wise or really anything, this year? I'd like to hear it. :)

Well, I don't have much writing advice to give today. Except this one:

Aquatip: Don't query during the holidays. Holidays meaning from December 13 to January 18 approx.

Why? Well, it's not illegal, you certainly can if you'd like. But a lot of queries are sent in during that time, maybe it's because people have breaks and go on vacations, thus having a lot of time to write. A great flood of emails go into agent's mailboxes. When they come back from their vacation, you might catch them, oh, what's the term? I forgot, I think it's called Agent Crunchdown time or something. It's when they have all these queries and get very stressed. Would you like your query to be in that pile, or would you rather have your query with an agent when they're nice and calm with not a lot of other queries around, leaving more time for yours? (Sorry, that was a long sentence). For example, right now, Janet Reid is storing her queries away to look at later, though she is looking at some of them seriously. So, you see, agents aren't really doing much query scouting at this time. Even if my manuscript was finished (which it is not, only at 6K), I would choose not to send out queries till maybe February. But of course, this doesn't mean you -have- to. The best time for your query is when your query is ready, and whenever that is, you can send it then, regardless of the time. Though it's something for you to consider.

Well, my time is up. We have a great year ahead of us on this blog. I've kept a list of ideas about future topics I will be discussing here. They include: self-publishing, more cliches, Benefit of The Reader, show don't tell, info dumps, queries, fanfiction, and much more. :D (Don't I sound like an infomercial host?)

Speaking of informerical hosts, always-a-yelling Billy Mays died this year, as did other great people like Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze and others. We can't forget them, too. Maybe take a moment to remember these people as we ring in the New Year. Or, as my one short story's title says, "Sing in the New Year", whichever you prefer. :)

Happy New Year everyone! I hope it's a good one!

Vanille

"New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights." -Hamilton Wright Mabie